The invention relates to applicators for applying dental substances to dental surfaces such as teeth. Many dental substances, such as pit and fissure sealants and bonding agents and acid etches and the like, require precise and artful manual application to a dental surface in order to achieve the desired aesthetic and functional result. The invention relates to a dental substance applicator with a fiber tip to achieve such desired results.
In the prior art, some dental substances such as pit and fissure sealants and bonding could be applied to teeth by use of a brush or swab. Such application was successful but time consuming and inefficient and did not always achieve the optimal aesthetic or functional result that the patient and the dental care provider would hope for. In particular, the seal achieved by such techniques was not always optimal.
Advances were made by providing a squeezable vial, an ejector gun or a syringe as a dental substance reservoir and an applicator tip with flocking to apply the dental substance to a dental surface. Disposable applicators with a flocked tip are available from Microbrush Corporation of Clearwater, Fla. Applicators with a flocked tip were an advance over the prior art brush or swab devices because they allowed a dental substance to be both dispensed and applied with the flocking with one hand without need to change tools. However, because the flocking was only around the exterior periphery of the applicator, dispensing of a dental substance and its actual application to a dental surface by spreading it out with the flocking was performed in two separate steps and still did not achieve optimal aesthetic and functional results. Examples of prior art applicators with flocked tips are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,059,570 and 6,083,002 which are hereby incorporated by reference.
There was some effort in the prior art to cause dental substances to flow through a brush end so that the dental substance could be applied to a dental surface simultaneously with dispensing of the dental substance from a reservoir. However, filled dental substances were found to clog the brush end right away, rendering such devices useless. For the purposes of this document xe2x80x9cfilledxe2x80x9d dental substances means a dental substance or restorative material with floating particles in it. For example, in a filled dental composite, glass particles will be found between resin molecules to provide a fracture resistant and more wear resistant restoration.
In order to achieve a superior fiber tipped applicator for use with filled materials, one inventor designed a spiral applicator tip in which the dental substance traveled around the fibers along a helical path in order to avoid clogging the fibers. At the applicator end, the dental substance was dispensed adjacent the fibers. Clogging was avoided, but merely dispensing the dental substance adjacent the fibers was still not optimal. Further, the helical pathway was complex and unnecessarily expensive, having marketing appeal but lacking in scientific benefits. An example of such a device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,684 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Another disadvantage of this type of tip is that it is conical in shape progressing from a wide dimension at the reservoir end to a narrow dimension at the exit orifice. However, the conical shape tends to be inconvenient for the dental care provider, preventing the applicator from being placed exactly where it is desired to be used.
Another effort in the prior art was to provide an applicator tip with bristles about the exterior of a dispensing orifice with bristles oriented in the direction of flow of a dental substance through the dispensing orifice. However, such a structure was only a minor advance over flocked tips of the prior art. An example of such a device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,804 which s hereby incorporated by reference.
There remains a need for a fiber tipped dental substance applicator which does not clog when presented with a filled material, which closely juxtaposes dispensed dental substance with fibers for which, accurate and artful application by a dental care provider, and which is sized and shaped for convenience of use.
In some embodiments of the invention, a fiber tipped dental substance applicator is provided that closely juxtaposes fibers with dental substances being dispensed so that dental substance may be dispensed and spread on a dental surface in an efficient fluid motion to achieve a desired aesthetic and functional result, including a good seal.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the specification and reviewing the appended drawings.